Sunday, December 30, 2012

Here is my crochet year in review with a little bit of knitting thrown in from time to time.

During the winter, I worked on two afghans plus a quilt for my new grandson, Daniel. This is the finished wavy ripple afghan that I gave him.

This was an attempt at the afghan you see above. After I crocheted awhile I saw it was going to be too long and narrow. I tried adding a border but wasn't satisfied with it. It is in a sack somewhere with more yarn to be repurposed next year or donated.

Two baby hats I knit for Daniel.

This is granny squares set with a granny ripple crochet. This is as much as I've finished.

I made a few cotton dishcloths. Here are just a couple of them.

I crocheted this granny square afghan as a gift for a friend's granddaughter.

This was a crochet along that started with two squares of fabric sewn together with a buttonhole stitch around the edge finished by crochet. I just made the one square.

I get a lot of email about my Mitered Square Sock Blanket. I started it awhile ago but once in awhile I pull it out and add a few squares.

I buy fleece remnants at our local fabric shop, go around the edge with a skip stitch blade that I ordered on line, and crochet an edging on them. After I've done a few, I donate them to our local chapter of Project Linus.

I found this photo taken this year and don't know what (or where) it is. I don't know why there is the one plain gold row and the rest is granny stitch.

I had this photo posted on my blog for this past year, but I think that I finished most of this giant granny square afghan last year.

I might have made it larger and added this Ole Ole border from Sucrette's blog this year.

This is a pile of granny squares for my Cath Kidston granny square afghan.

Here it is finished.

I made a couple of African Flower blocks. I'd like to make more of these in 2013.

This was a Babette Blanket that I started. I just don't really like it, so it is a bag somewhere.

Knit entrelac scarf. Two more skeins to go.

Here are my three attempts at the Mixed Stitch Afghan stitch along over at Little Woolie's blog. I started this over three times and started a pillow, but there is one part of it that just won't lay flat. So I started my own mixed stitch blanket over again......also in a bag somewhere.

Katrin over at Cattinka blog started me on Dragon's Tail scarves. This is my first one.

I made this one as a Christmas gift for my daughter-in-law, and I have a third one on the needles.

In the fall I started this shell afghan.

And I finished my granny stripe afghan.

I hope you have enjoyed my year in review yarn projects.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. It's been nice getting to know many of you this past year, and I appreciate your comments. I hope you will visit again in 2013!

Big granny square afghan made with red/white/green variegated yarn. This one was made by my Mom.

Another big granny square afghan. I made this one.

This is one of my white Christmas tree skirts made from this pattern on my blog. I think it looks much more elegant in the white and silver glitter yarn. It's an easy pattern in any color combination, and I like how it looks under the tree.

Friday, December 14, 2012

This is a tree skirt that I made for our family room tree years ago. I think this was before I knew much about matching yarn dye lots. This is really a simple pattern, and it is quick to work. I also have a couple of these tree skirts in off white glitter yarn that I use under two of my other trees.

Worsted weight yarn (about 15 ounces) I'm not really sure that I used that much.

Size I crochet hook (I usually just use whatever the skein of yarn calls for)

Round 1:

Chain 27

Double crochet in the 4th chain from the hook; *in next chain work (DC, chain 1, DC) (for the corners); double crochet in each of the next 3 chains; repeat from * four times; then work (DC, chain 1, DC) in next chain, double crochet in each of the last 2 chains, chain 3 turn. Now that is the hard part..... (I tried to count the chains

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

This crochet shell afghan pattern is easy. I've written a tutorial and taken step by step photos to show you how to do the base row and the first couple of rows that include a color change. You can find just the pattern here in my previous post.

I used a worsted weight yarn and a size I crochet hook (5.5 mm).

There are 12 different colors of yarn in my afghan. In the photo above I have started to repeat the colors a second time. The ends could be trimmed for fringe, but I will probably stop at some point and weave them in.

Dark green

Light green

Yellow

Orange

Red

Pink

Dark Purple

Light Purple

Dark Blue

Light Blue

Dark Teal

Light Teal

Chain a multiple of 6 + 1. I chained 139 for my afghan, and it measures about 40 inches wide.

For this example I chained 25 (6 X 4 + 1) . Do 2 double crochets in the 4th chain from the hook.

Skip 2 stitches. Single crochet in next stitch. Skip 2 stitches. Five double crochets in next stitch. Continue across your chain.

Here is the first row. The arrows point to the two skipped stitches.

Every row will end with a single crochet.

Every row will begin with a chain 3 and two double crochets.

One single crochet in the top of the shell (3rd double crochet).

Five double crochets in the single crochet from the row below.

Continue across ending with a single crochet in the top of the chain 3 from the row below. (This is easier to see if you scroll down to the photo where I have changed colors.)

Changing colors: When I finish a row I cut my yarn and pull the tail through the loop on my hook. When I add a new color, I tie the yarn on with an overhand knot. Then chain 3.

(I know this is not how you are supposed to add on a new color of yarn, but without a knot I have had my afghans pull loose where colors were joined because my afghans normally get lots of use!)

Do two double crochets in the same stitch.

Single crochet in top (3rd double crochet) of the shell from the row below. Five double crochets in the single crochet from the row below. Continue.

Finish the row with a single crochet.

Chain 3.

Continue the same as above until your afghan is the desired length or until you run out of yarn.

That's it. Once you get the base row done, each row is the same. I think this is an easy, relaxing pattern and hope you enjoy it!